Ducks begin to gear up for Wings

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Contrary to what you might have heard, Detroit really is lovely this time of year.

Temperatures in the mid-50s and overcast skies greeted the Ducks upon their Wednesday late-afternoon arrival at Detroit Metro Airport. After a quick bus ride to a suburban practice rink, the Ducks got on the ice for the first time since capping their six-game, first-round Stanley Cup playoff victory over the SanJose Sharks with Monday night's 4-1 triumph at Honda Center.

A day off Tuesday, a travel day followed by a light workout Wednesday and a full practice Thursday should leave the Ducks in good shape for Friday night's second-round series opener against the defending Stanley Cup champion DetroitRed Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

"It's great," Ducks right wing Corey Perry said. "It's just enough time to heal the body, but not lose sight of what we want, why we're here. You get to clear your head for a day. You come back, you travel, but you also have a practice just to get the legs going and get your head into it again. It's kind of nice that we actually had three days before we play. It's not like we're waiting five, six, seven days."

Detroit, having closed out a first-round sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 23, will have gone seven days between games when the puck drops Friday. The Ducks endured just such a layoff before the 2007 Western Conference finals, when they outlasted the Red Wings in six games.

"Then it's harder," Perry said. "You have to be sharp in practice then. With only three days off, you're up. You get to enjoy what you've done, but then right away you're focusing on your next opponent and moving forward. You only have 72 hours before you have to play that team, so it's kind of easier when you only have a couple days."

Rather than skating Wednesday and Thursday at Joe Louis Arena, the Ducks opted for the Allen Park Community Center, which is significantly closer to the team hotel in suburban Dearborn.

"It has nothing to do with anything other than convenience for our players," Coach Randy Carlyle said. "It's much neater and tidier for us. We feel more comfortable doing that.

"As the days dwindle down, you like to continue to do some review with your team, do some of the things you felt you needed to work on from the last series, and try to add a little bit to it with the opposition you're going to play."

NOTES

Center Petteri Nokelainen, who missed the final three first-round games and is nursing an upper-body injury, traveled with the Ducks but did not skate Wednesday. ... The club's traveling contingent includes center Petri Kontiola, who arrived along with defenseman James Wisniewski in the March 4 trade that sent center Samuel Pahlsson to the Blackhawks, and veteran left wing Josh Green. ... Right wing Troy Bodie, who was with the Ducks in the first round, did not make the trip.

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